During this academic year, six more states have begun offering free breakfast and lunch to all students attending public schools. The states are Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Vermont. In 2021, California became the first state to offer free meals to all public school students, followed by Maine in 2022.
During the pandemic, from 2020 to 2022, the US government gave money to public schools so they could provide students with free meals, in a program known as universal school meals. Before that, free meals had been available only to students in need, a federal policy that applied to about 30% of public school children. When federal funding for universal school meals ended in 2022, many officials recognized the benefits of the program and wanted to continue it.…